I would like to know if anyone knows a device that will prevent robo calls. I get many each day especially now with all the political campaigns going on, and I hate it. I'm supposedly on the NO CALL list, but it doesn't apply to charities and political calls, and it's as though it's not there because I still get solicitations for free trips to Florida, how to improve my credit, and other commercial calls, Last night I had 3 phone calls from Green Bay WI, all undoubtedly trying to influence my vote next week in the primaries.

Sandy from STL. I lived in the STL area till 2000. Miss it at times and do come back to see our kids (4 of them still live in the STL area) whenever we can. Hope you enjoy interacting with this team.

The painters finished the painting on our house trim today. Tomorrow the yard guy is coming to dig out some big roots for me and then I can figure out what I want to do in that area-thinking I will just rock it and put some yard art there instead of plants. Well, you know I will have to have a few plants but no more roses! They don't do that great down here. I have a big project ready to start in the park-we are redoing the entry island bed so Vickie & I have to figure out what we want to do there-the maintenance men have removed all the old plants and dug it down so we can put in new mulch. What a massive project but....we wanted a new look as this is the first impression people get when they enter our community. Weather has been rainy for several days but today was perfect!

One of those bleak, rainy days here and I never got with it. Watched TV and read a bit. Also made a pot roast and used red wine as the liquid. I think it tenderized the meat. It's good and doesn't taste winey at all.

Hope you are all doing well. I'm kind of caught up in the presidential primaries and boy, there has never been so much mud slinging that I can recall. Can't imagine what the folks in other countries think. I'll be glad when it's over.

Been busy as a bee around here today. I was up by 7 and off to walk by 7:30 and was just returning home about 8:30 when the lady showed up to clean my area rugs. We had a 9 AM apt and she was early. Not a problem but not usual down here-usually people are late and often don't even show up! We had 2 area rugs cleaned-one is wool and needs to be dry cleaned. Looks much better now. After they left, I moved food from the refrigerator in the home our friends rented into the refrigerator in the home they purchased. They left last Fri. and the people renting their home left this morning. Our friends are returning in May to get settled in. The home was rented when they purchased it so they couldn't move in right away. Once that was done, we returned home to find the mother and son duo who was coming to paint the trim on our home. I do not do ladders anymore. DH definitely isn't stable enough to be on one and I can't risk falling and breaking anything so better to pay someone to do this job. They got about 3/4 of the way done but had to quit as it started looking pretty dark and rain moved in about 90 min after they quit for the day. We are dogsitting also-another friend has been in the hospital since Sat eve. They are taking his gall bladder out so we are keeping their furbaby for them. Never a dull moment here!

Took me two days, but I finally have my Wii Fit connected & set up. Tried it out briefly today & it informed me that I don't have really good balance. I knew that, but it was strange hearing it from an electronic fitness program.

Good Morning: It's a sunny day but cool. Was up at about 3:30 with allergies and just got back up now, after 9am. Does that ever happen to you? Going to get some reading done today. I've a couple of books due in a few days and I have to get with it to finish them all.

Val do hope you get better soon. Not fun to be sick and especially when you have things you want to do.

We were supposed to get our house trim painted today but it has been drizzling and very humid so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day to get that done. I did get some yard work done after my morning walk so it wasn't a totally wasted day. I have it scheduled to get our area rugs cleaned tomorrow so we may be very busy around here if everyone shows up!

I spent most of Sunday in bed and didn't get up until about 3:00 this afternoon, which is unusual for me. I went to Walgreen's to buy some more sugar free cough drops and now I'm just going to take it easy for the rest of the day. I did put a load of laundry in to wash before going to Walgreen's and it's in the dryer now. Those are my big accomplishments for the day.

I'm actually starting to feel a bit better...finally. Tomorrow it's back to work and then on Wednesday I'm finally going to get in to see my new doctor. Just in time, too. I've been working very hard to make the BP meds I've got stretch until I get in to see my new primary care. I didn't take one of my pills for about a week and a half and only took one of another (instead of 2) each day for about the same amount of time. I'll have one more day of my main BP medication left when I get in to see my new primary care, and I'll be taking the last of the others on the morning of my appointment. It will be good to get all of that taken care of again.

Now if I could just finish getting over this cold (or whatever it is) I could really put some effort into packing up my stuff so I could get started on the business of moving. I know it's going to be a pain in the butt, so I want to get it started so that it will eventually get finished. I'm really looking forward to being in a new place that I know I'm going to love...just wish I could get the actual moving over with...

I feel better, but still pretty wiped out at the moment, so I can't remember what's going on in everyone's life right now. I hope that the week is starting out well for all of you.

I had planned on spending my days off (today and tomorrow) packing stuff into boxes for my upcoming move. Then I got sick. It's just a cold but it's still miserable. Last night not only my coughing, but even my sneezing was causing pain in my chest! I've spent most of today in bed and I'm finally starting to feel a tiny bit better. Wish I felt more improvement but I'll take what I can get.

Now I've got to rustle up something to eat. I can't wait till I get moved and I've got a bigger freezer so I can start making big batches of stuff in my crock pot and freezing it again. The freezer in this apartment is pretty much worthless as far as that goes. Just a couple more weeks...I hope the new week starts out well for everyone.

Gail I used to read about anything I could get my hands on and in all kinds of light but.....sorry to say that isn't the case anymore. I go back to the eye dr in a couple of months so we are going to discuss this.issue - I don't want to do anything I don't need to but this is a problem for me.

Pat: Thanks to my good Frosty friend in Florida, I learned that I can take ebooks out of the library and read them on my IPad. In doing this I can adjust the size of the lettering. Very cool. That said, now that I don't need glasses to read or drive, I read whatever I get my hands on in any medium.

Val: Sorry you are under the weather. It's good that you can stay home and nurse your cold.

Val hope you are feeling better and better each day. Not fun to need to pack and feel lousy.

Sandy do hope you are taking care of yourself and will be feeling better soon. You have certainly had a rough winter.

Gail I am not good at reading 2 books at the same time. In fact, with my eye issues, I don't seem to enjoy reading much anymore. I am going to need to start borrowing more from the library on my tablet. I have a kindle now but haven't made it there to get them to help me download the program to get books on it. Sorry your allergies are acting up. Not fun but thank God for good drugs to help us fight it. As a kid I had terrible sinus problems during the spring and summer and lived on Dristan (didn't have a lot of choices back then!).

We were told we would have rain by noon today but it is almost 5 and nothing so far. I gave Abbie a bath this afternoon-the medicine I have to put in her ears makes a mess of her hair and I wipe it with a doggy wet wipe daily but it really needed scrubbed and we have to do this till Apr 4 so.....I will be doing a lot of cleaning. I have put afghans over the new chairs to make sure they don't get messed up immediately. Not Abbie's fault but......will take precautions for now. I will post pics soon of them Gail.

I don't have any big plans for Easter. I thought I might end up working but they don't need me after all, which is good because I've got a bad cold or something right now. When I woke up yesterday I didn't have much of a voice and today I've almost got no voice at all. I don't feel bad, don't even really have a sore throat, just losing my voice a little more each day. Hopefully by the weekend I'll be doing better and be able to get to packing more boxes, guess we'll see.

Our weather got colder again over the last couple of days. I'm really hoping that it stays cool until I can get moved into my new apartment. I just don't want to deal with the heat without an air conditioner anymore...

I hope the week has been going well for the rest of you. Hope poor Sandy can get over this illness that she's had going on for so long. Everybody take care.

Pat: I must have missed something. I didn't know you were getting chairs. Send a photo of them.

I touched base with Sandy and learned that she has been down with some crud for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, I've had a good winter. That said, my allergies have been a bother and I've popped a zyrtec almost every day for weeks.

Yesterday I started a new book by Gianrico Carofiglio, A Walk in the Dark, and am also reading my first Anna Katherine Green book, The Leavenworth Case, written in the late 1880s. This idea of reading two books at a time is something relatively new for me. I used to just stick with one until I finished it.

I'm going for Easter dinner this Sunday and am looking forward to it. What are you all planning?

They will come in the next couple of weeks to do the repair-since it isn't urgent, they will send a repairman when they have someone in our area which is fine, I just want to get it repaired. That window is behind the tv so we don't open it often anyhow-I only did it to wash it the other day.

Today I painted the skirting on two side of our house. Hopefully that will clean it up and it will look better-the sprinklers throw water on it and it has discolored that and some on our siding so now we have to try to get the sprinklers reset so they don't hit the house.

TLL: Went to the store today and kept putting items back because I knew very well I still had stuff in the freezer and cupboard. It wasn't easy, but I thought of you and it inspired me.

Went over to Aldi's today and found two cook books...really nice ones...on clearance for 99 cents. Woo Hoo! I was going to bring one to a friend, but in looking through them this afternoon, I think I'll keep them both.

Gail we will call tomorrow and see how fast they can take care of it. The window itself isn't broken so no danger of anything coming it-it is the piece that lets one move it up and down and then holds the part that lets you swivel it to lay it down to wash it. We have the number so figure they will likely have to make a new window if they can't just replace the part and that may take 6-8 weeks as they will have to manufacture it. After church today, we went to the W-Mart near there and I was able to get Abbie's allergy medicine that ours didn't have. I keep her on half a pill all year round and she hasn't had near as much problem as she used to. A bottle of 100 lasts 200 days and costs $2.96 so cheaper than letting her get bad enough she has to get a short of steroids. I have cleaned the dining room except for the hutch and mopped the kitchen this afternoon after spreading the rock I bought yesterday and giving Abbie a bath. My to-do isn't getting shorter very fast but getting something done for now. I try to do things I don't want to do in the heat of summer.

Taking it easy today reading and I'll catch up on some TV programs I recorded. Tomorrow I go pick up my taxes and sign the papers. I'm sure I'll get something back but have no idea how much. Wish me luck!

G.

TLL: I have a coffee generally in the morning. I don't drink pop but I do drink caffeinated tea during the day.

Val: Sounds like you're making progress. So happy for you.

Pat: When will they come to take care of the window? I stopped at St. Vincent's last week with some donations and picked up 2 paperbacks. I looked at them today and saw that I just read the library's Ebook! Ah, well, I'll just donate them back.

Val sounds like you have a plan. I try to pace myself - figure out what needs done and divide it into chunks so I get a break-however by late afternoon I am pretty much done as I usually start early. Hoping you can get a lot of it packed up and be ready to move-if you get excited enough maybe that will encourage you! TLL I used to be a heavy diet coke drinker but have pretty much sworn off soda and don't drink coffee so no caffine for me! I intended to be up early and at the store when they opened up at 8 but.....it was nearly 8 when I got up so didn't make it till 10. I fixed breakfast for DH and then we participated in the Poker Run sponsored by our boat club as it looked like rain and didn't want to be running around searching for the pick up spots in the rain. Then we ran my errands-Lowes for marble rock that is on sale, Walgreens for a couple of sale items and Publix for my BOGOS before heading home to put things away and then head down to find out if we had a winning poker hand-no such luck for us!!! Did some paperwork this afternoon-paid my Visa bill and I keep a spreadsheet on our major expenses so I can see how it compares on an annual basis so entered a couple of items I had paid-was shocked that our homeowners insurance went down! Only $8 but still a savings and not an increase!!!

I'm going to start moving a few things at a time on April 7th. Then around the 15th or 18th my mom is going to come and we'll move some more stuff, go shopping for things like area rugs and work on organizing and decorating. I'll probably have the movers take my big stuff (like furniture) sometime around the 18th or 20th, and then the last week of the month is when I'm going to hire someone to come in and clean the old place for me. So I'll be living in the new place around the 15th or 20th of April and I'll be gone from this place for good by the end of April.

I'm really excited. I've got 3 weeks to pack up my stuff before I can even start to move and I've done a very small amount of that so far. I've gone through some of the stuff I've got on my living room floor, thrown a bit of it away and packed a couple of boxes. My plan for right now is that before I can play online I have to do a little bit of organizing/tossing/packing. Then I can play online or watch TV or read for a little while, and then I have to do some more organizing/tossing/packing before I an play for a while again. On work days I probably won't get too much done, but on my days off I'd better, or else I'm going to have to make a new plan.

I had a terrible day at work today but I still managed to come home and do a little bit of organizing and tossing. Now I get to play for a little while and then I need to get to bed earlier than I normally do because I hardly slept at all last night. I can do one day with only 3 or 4 hours of sleep, but 2 in a row is something I can't handle anymore. I hope that you all have plans for a fun weekend. Just one more day in my work week and then we'll see how much I can get done...

Gail how nice of you to host a dinner for friends. So sad to see those we care about deteriorating. We live in a community of just over 200 homes and as we ride around, we realize how many residents we have lost in the 10 years we have been here. One home has already had 4 owners in that time! Val are you moving soon or is that a month away? I bet you can hardly wait to get to the a/c if it starts to get hot. Sandy hoping you have gotten rested up. TLL what are you going to make with all that peanut butter-do you make cookies? Today I got the living and family rooms deep cleaned-even washed all the windows (8). One of our window has a broken tab that holds it in so I have to call the company next to either fix it or replace it-they have a lifetime warranty and I intend to hold them to it. This afternoon we met with friends and went to the Cares Center to gets Abbie's medicine, grabbed a bite to eat, stopped at a thrift store where I got 4 children's books for $1 for our great granddaughters (have to mail next week so they get there by Easter!). We played cards when we got back tot their home and then headed home about 5. Even got a load of laundry done.

I had friends over yesterday for a traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner. One of my friends is going to be 81 next month. She was here last night and though her mind is excellent I see the deterioration of her body. Even holding on and walking 3 steps from my garage into the house was a major effort. I brought up Vic's walker for her so she was better in the house, but still she is so much more fragile than she was when I last saw her at Christmas. What a shock. Seeing her like that was a wakeup call. If I don't start moving while I can I can wind up like that. The thought is scary.

Today is clean house day. I don't make messes, and if I do I clean it up right away, so things are always neat and clean. Still, every couple of weeks there is a thorough cleaning. In preparation for spring I even clean the inside of the windows. Usually do that about twice a year.

Sending you all positive energy.

Sandy: Hope you feel better. It's great that you get some rest.

Pat: I've got to laugh. You are a whirlwind. Do you ever stop?

TLL: Looks like you got a good freebee and a good bargain yesterday. That's great!

We had our usual Thursday breakfast-19 out today. Afterwards, Vickie & I checked out the water situation on one of our beds and could not get the water to come on so that finally got a couple of board members to look at it (I have been telling them for several weeks it wasn't cycling like it was supposed to!). Plants were looking pretty bad as we have been very dry. Once that was taken care of, we headed off to get shirts ordered for my DH's Fri group and then I had to go to the dentist for my cleaning. Now time to go help Abbie's A. Barb with a project and come home and clean house-on lunch break and watching the noon news right now! Then it is back to work.

Another hot day (88) down here. Looking for rain over the next 3-4 days and cooler temps. I am trying to get back into my walking groove and have gotten up to 7K today so I am making progress. Hopefully back to 10K within a couple of weeks.

Pat - You can have our weather. We broke a record from 1950 for the wettest year. It got to 48 today with a low of 36.

I my last mammogram on my right side. And everything was fine. They have been watching it for 2 yrs and nothing has changed. I don't have to go back for 6 months for my annual mammogram. I am just resting now and getting ready to go to bed. I have come down with a broccoli cough. I don't feel back but, do feel tried.

Sandy sounds like you are staying quite busy. Glad you are happy with the change of duties. I imagine being on the cash register can be trying at times.

We are having above average temps-90 today. Too hot too soon. Sure hope it cools off a little and we get to enjoy our spring. Last year we only got a few days and went directly into summer. Our ceiling fan would not turn off yesterday so luckily a friend who is an electrician came over today and put it all to rights! Abbie had to go back for more medicine in her ears today. She is doing so much better.

Well, I have been busy working and sleeping. Saw the doctor about my hives and we figured out that the dye in the low dose of premarin , which is green, I am allergic to. So, it is something with dyes that my body doesn't like. So, now I have to get it with no dyes. That will take care of the break outs I have been having. I will still have chronic hives but will be controlled with the shot. Work is going good. Doing cash office a little more often. Also now in charge of jean bottoms - where I size them and organize them by size , brands and style. No has done it in a while. I am looking forward to doing it. It will get me a way from the register.

I have crockpot potato soup doing it's thing. Well, the recipe calls for 1 pound of Velveeta. Well, there are two big packages of yellow cheese that has been in our fridge that a housemate got from a food pantry but won't eat because she says "it's not real American cheese". I don't want the cheese going to waste. Well, while she was in church, I placed the food pantry cheese in the crockpot. How much do you want to bet she'll never know the difference that it isn't Velveeta?

We had our Secret Sister reveal today-that took most of my morning but I did get the Weed-N-Feed on my yard when I got home and then I watered it in so hoping that stops the weeds that are just emerging. I gave Abbie her bath this afternoon and we sat out with her to let her air dry. I have to take her back tot he vet on Mon and they will put in another dose of medicine. Hoping we can get her ears healthy this time.

Gail that might be a good idea for you to add a security system. We all want to feel safe in our homes but nothing can totally protect us. We had 2 picture windows shot out back in 2000 and it was just when we were getting ready to go on vacation and we couldn't leave till they were fixed. Never did figure out who did it, but police figured it was some teens. I hope that is all it is for your neighborhood. Took DH to oncologist today and he had a good report. His platelets are the lowest they have been in a couple of years. Dr says if they continue to stay down, he might be able to discontinue his medicine-wouldn't that be awesome. We went to Lowes after his dr visit. I have my fertilizer now to put on my yard and I bought Miracle Grow for the park. If anyone uses it, Lowes has it half price this week. I always try to stock up when it goes on sale like this.

I was up at 4am this morning with a horrible pain in my right shoulder. It was probably as a result of the way I was sleeping. I took some ibuprofen and went back to sleep. Thankfully that did the trick. The thing of it is I slept in till 9am and even then I pushed myself to get out of bed and get on with the day.

Thinking of getting a home security system. This has been known as a safe neighborhood, but in the last several months there have been isolated instances of vandalism. Late last night someone shot a neighbor's living room window with a pellet or bb gun. The homeowner keeps a front light on all night and the street light is right in front of his house. Then another neighbor added that a car that they park on the street had that happen to one of the car windows. Not feeling good about that.

TLL how do you make crockpot French toast? Not that I will get to make it unless I take it to a breakfast potluck since DH is off gluten but it sounds interesting. I use coupons off and on-have a stockpile of things like shampoo and soap and paper towels and toilet tissue and Kleenex as the moment so not using many now. I need to reduce my stockpile! I live in a mobile home and only have so much storage space. Do you have lots of storage and do you buy in bulk with your coupons? I hate when people come in and clean out the shelves when there is a coupon-I try to just buy 2 to 4 of an item so I leave some for others. If I return later in the week and there is more available and it is something I know I will use, I might buy more. I tend to purchase BOGO items more than use coupons these days. No double coupons here.

Val it sounds like you have a plan for the move and happy to hear you planned for it so you can pay for the help you need. I am starting to think of things I will need to pay to have done in the future and will start thinking about who I can get to do it. Several ladies in our community have a lady who cleans for them-I am not there yet but.....it doesn't hurt to find out if I would like this person. She charges by the hour and I might use her to do some things I hate to do one of these days.

I finished treating the concrete edging today and had just enough of the sealer to finish the job. It took me over 2 hours to do it and I ended up crawling along after a bit-the west side of our house is on a hillside and that makes it harder to stand up. This is a job I will likely consider getting someone to do in another year or 2.

DH is wanting shirts for his Rock Club so this afternoon we went to a screen printer to get an idea what it would cost so he can present it to the membership on Fri. There are 10 men who belong-they go to coffee and donuts every week and they all carry a little black rock that I picked up on an ORE beach. Instead of a girls day out, they have a guys day out and we ladies are happy they enjoy this. I feel sorry for my DH as he can only have coffee with them but he enjoys the hour they spend there enough that he continues to go.

Can't believe our weather-we hit 82 today. Looks like we will be above average for the coming week-hope this doesn't mean we will have an extremely hot summer.

I have to go to the podiatrist tomorrow so will like check out a couple of thrift stores while I am there-there are 4 in the town and we don't go there except when I have my appointment. Wonder if I will find something I can't live without - last time I got a pr of capri pants and a matching top for $2!

We don't want you to feel left out TLL. I think that we just haven't had a chance to get to know you as well as we've all gotten to know Sandy. But give it time, I'm sure we're all going to love you, too.

Gail, my new apartment is on the first floor. I don't think I could have handled a second floor apartment, I'm not very good with stairs these days. It's a 2 bedroom like the one I'm in now but it's got two bathrooms, where this one only has one. All of the rooms are bigger than my current apartment and it's got a full size washer and dryer...inside the apartment. Hooray! At my current apartment the washer and dryer are in a little room that's attached to my apartment, but not inside the apartment. Every year I've had at least one black widow show up in the laundry room, hopefully that won't happen with the new apartment. It's got what they call a garden-style tub in the master bathroom (and maybe in the second one, too), which is larger and deeper than the tub I've got in this apartment. And it's got 2 walk-in closets, where this apartment only has one walk-in and then a much smaller closet in the second bedroom. It's also got a little private patio and a gas fireplace. It's about $150 a month more than the apartment I've got now, but I think it's going to be worth it to have a place with more room, and one that I think I'm going to like a lot more than the one I'm in now. (And also that real air conditioner.) Now I just have to start getting all of my stuff packed up so I can move it, but I've got a month before I can start moving in so I'm sure I can get it all taken care of.

My mom is going to come to help me with my move, though really she may be helping more with arranging things than with the actual move. I'll start moving some of the smaller stuff on my own once I can get into the apartment on the 7th. Then I'll have a couple of guys I've used before move the big stuff like the furniture and most of the boxes sometime in the second of third week of April, and I'm going to have someone come in to clean the old apartment for me during the last week of April. I just don't think I have it in me to do a really good, thorough cleaning so that I can get my deposit back, but I'm sure I can find someone who won't charge too much to do it for me. If I were younger and stronger I'd do all of it myself, but I've been saving up money for this move for about a year and I can pay someone to help me without breaking my bank. I'm really excited about all of this. I hate moving, but I think I'm going to be much happier in the new apartment.

I hope that the week is starting out really well for the rest of you. Everyone stay warm and have a really great week.

TLL: I'm really sorry that you feel left out; I've been there, but not with this team. Thanks so much for saying something.

It's wonderful that you still have your mom and that you do things together. All of my adult life I lived over a thousand miles away and only saw my parents once a year of less. I make a concerted effort to keep in touch with my children and grandchildren. Problem is that everyone is so busy....bummer.

I hardly use coupons any more because my purchases are primarily fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry or fish, tea and coffee, and diary. So many coupons are for prepared foods and I keep away from those as much as I can. What do you use your coupons for?

Val So happy you have found a new apartment and can look forward to a/c for the summer. I am sure once you get moved you will feel so much better. Is your mom going to come and help you with the move?

Gail-yes, Abbie's grooming and vet bills can get pricey but she is PRICELESS! I did all of her grooming myself for several years but now it is something I treat myself to-not having to trim and comb her for an hour or so most days is a treat for me. I used to let her hair grow and it was down to the floor-she looked like a dust mop walking but was so gorgeous but it finally got to be more than I wanted to do. I have trimmed her myself but I choose to let a groomer do it these days. She does tend to get ear infections because of the long ears and I do take very good care of them but it is just something we have to deal with. No, I do not make her food. I made jerky for her a few times but the lengthy time to dry the meat out is costly on the electric so I purchase it but make sure I only buy brands from the USA. She is on salmon food to help with her allergies. I have never noticed a smell from her food-maybe I am just used to it. I got the back edging treated today. I just have the west side of the house to treat now and if I don't run out of sealer, I should get that done tomorrow. I wonder how many more years I am going to want to do this job but will as long as I am able. Some people never re-seal the concrete but I was told when we installed it that it would retain the color and hold up better if we did seal it so that is what I plan to do on an annual basis. $25 for the sealer is a cheap price to pay to keep it looking like new. I would rather keep up with things instead of having a big repair bill later on. We had our last get together with our camping group this afternoon. We meet for a late lunch twice in the winter. I was expecting 14 but only 13 showed up. I hate it when people say they are coming and then don't show up or let you know that they aren't coming. I think it is very rude and this person will not be getting an invite next time we get together. Our weather continues to be awesome-we got to 80 today. I am hoping this lasts for another 6 weeks or so. We didn't get much of a spring last year so hope we do this year.

Val: I am so happy for you. I know you've been wanting for a new apartment for over a year. Tell us all about it. What floor are you on? How many rooms? What is your view? What do you especially like about it? Will you have the help of friends in the move?

Nan: What are you up to these days? I expect you folks in OH are getting robo calls and TV political commercials up wot wazoo with the upcoming political events that are scheduled in your state. Do you ever volunteer for candidates?

Pat: Yes, Aldi's has a nice line of gluten free items and they are much cheaper. There gluten free bread is the very best I've found, but you have to toast it. Pat, I see that you often take Abby to the groomer or vet. It can run into quite a bit, can't it? Do you make your own dog food? My son-in-law started doing that for the two doggies. He says it's better for them and doesn't smell. I cannot abide the smell of dry or wet dog food.

I tried to post a message earlier but my computer started freaking out while I was typing so I had to give up on it for a while.

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a little while. I was offline for a couple of days and never read the email to start the March chat, so of course I haven't been getting notifications for this group for a little while. Oh well.

The big news is that I finally got out and found a new apartment. I'd actually looked at this complex before but I hadn't been back there in a while because I was afraid that they would look at my rental history with my ex husband and not want me. Well last Monday I finally decided to go there and find out for sure whether or not they would reject me...and they didn't do it! I can't start moving in until April 6th or 7th, but I got the fabulous new apartment that I'd really been wanting. Now I just have to start boxing up my things so that I'll be ready to move in a month. That's the part I really hate...

Nothing else terribly exciting going on in my life right now. Our weather has been nice. Cool still, and it's probably going to rain tonight and tomorrow morning, which will be good for us. Luckily I'm going to be out of this apartment before it gets really hot here, which I think is the kind of summer we're going to have this year. I hope that life is treating the rest of you well. Have a great week.

A quick check in-had a busy day-hadn't planned on eating breakfast out but friends popped by and invited us just as I was getting ready to prepare breakfast so we joined them at Dennys and ate off the SR menu. DH seems to do well eating out for breakfast-he can stay away from gluten! When we got home, I made several phone calls-wanted to find out why our car insurance went up by $30-nothing against us-just more claims in our area over the past year! We all pay for others wrecks it seems! I made an appointment for Abbie-she has another ear infection-the office worked her in this afternoon so she got to see the vet, got a shot, ears cleaned and medicine put in them and has to return in a week for another dose and then in 2 wks to see the vet again. I wish she was not so prone to these infections but she seems to get them at least 1-2 times a year no matter what I do. I also called to confirm reservations for tomorrow for our camping groups luncheon. One all that was done, I got busy sealing the concrete edging on the east side of our house. I try to do it in 3 days as all that stooping over gets my back. That took me a little over an hour but that side is now complete. DH helped by trimming a bit of grass that was touching the edging for me. I worked on some more ironing after a bite of lunch and then it was off to W-Mart, the vet, and Aldi. I am finding more items in the gluten free line at Aldi and so much cheaper than other stores so appreciate that. DH is doing so much better now that he is off gluten. I won't say his tummy is 100% but it is not causing him constant pain.

Sandy: So glad your business is booming. Any chance you'll rethink selling it? As for the taxes, I just put my stuff together: the income in one batch, the deduction in another. It is really simple this year, but I just don't want to do it. Also, the accountants keep a copy of everything, so if I ever get audited they have it all, including the details of the itemized charitable deductions.

TLL: Have you ever had anything published? I know if you submit a joke to Readers Digest they send you something if they publish it. I have published articles and analyses but in each case it was part of my job so i was never paid specifically for the published material.

I want to tell you all that there was a Southwestern Chicken Soup Recipe on Spark yesterday. I also found one on the net. This morning I made up a batch and OMG is it ever good.

Copperpenny - So sorry to here about your furnace. But glad you got a new one.

Nan - Always good to here from you.

Pat - Sounds like you, Bill and Abby are really busy as usually.

Gail - How are the books coming? You are so good you got your taxes done already.

Little lady - you are just baking away.

Vali - Where ae you? I will pop by to check on you.

Between the business booming and my job at Kohl's and trying to get the taxes done I have been really busy. DH is still limping around he is pushing it too hard as he really wants to find a job and go back to work. He tired to get disability and even unemployment but, they both said no as he didn't work long enough and he sign a paper for a 90 day probation period. So, he wasn't happy about that. Anyways he is helping me here the best he can.

My Step son made it back to Maryland. His mother never called him once on the way back nor did his sister. But, when he arrived his sister asked him to drive her to work. Nice after he had driving 9 hours he got to take her to work.

TLL have you tried Dollar Tree or looked at some thrift stores? Wishing you success on your reviews. I was going to go to a few yard sales today but we didn't set the alarm and I guess we were both really tired as it was almost 9 when we woke up. We had been up early every day this past week so guess the body needed the sleep. Saved $$ by not going to them! I caught up on things I had neglected while I was working but still not up to snuff but should be early next week. Then I can finish up my yardwork and get my concrete edging treated-I do that annually.

Yesterday I submitted 2 book reviews based upon library books that are about none-other-than frugalness! One of the magazines is called The Dollar Stretcher that I submitted to. The other magazine is called The Pennyhoarder. Even the magazines are about being frugal. Wish me luck!

I am back to being retired-survived my 3 partial days of working for our office manager. I sure would not want to go back to working full time! I sometimes wonder how did I find time to work and get everything done and then I remember I was younger and it didn't take as long to do things!!! Loving the beautiful weather.

Thank you for the tips! Sometimes I would rather have a friend give me hints as opposed to a google as I can figure out what sounds good by word of mouth. When you google, you really don't know how it is going to taste.

TLL you can make pepper jelly-if you could get a red one it would add a bit of color to the jelly. Also you can chop them up and freeze them to use later in recipes-or in slices for stir fry. You can make up meat loaf with the chopped ones in the loaf and freeze that to make later.

Survived another day at work-it went well and Sharon surprised me with a flat of strawberries as I was leaving the office so we had berries tonight and I searched and found a gluten free shortcake recipe and made that for Bill. It is so-so but he says it wasn't bad-better than doing without!

On Tuesday, I bought bags of green peppers with 3 to 4 in each bag on clearance for a $1.00 each bag. I am wondering what new recipe I can make with them. I am tired of using them for the same thing. Any hints?

Yesterday, I used the crockpot for dinner. I made potato soup. Cheap and easy.

I have been looking for more writing opportunities. I have found 3 magazines to submit to that all 3 magazines cover the topic of none-other-than frugalness!!!!! I have been thinking about submitting book reviews of library books I have that cover frugalness. The problem is that many of the books just repeat each other.

Survived a crazy morning at work-I am used to working for the office manager in the summer when things are a lot quieter so having lot of folks in and out is unusual for me but I managed to get done what I needed to. Just 2 more days and back to retirement!!! Beautiful day here. There was a memorial service for our next door neighbor this afternoon and we attended that. It was a nice turnout and many fond memories were shared.

Good evening everyone. I have been up and on the go since 8 am. I have finished trimming all the ornamental grasses in the park-what a relief to have that chore done for another year. I got our pills done for another week, made a quick run to the grocery store to get my favorite Greek yogurt while it was on sale for 15 cents off (now that DH eats it too we got thru twice as much!), took a friend to look at a pontoon boat, made rice krispie treats to take to a beach party which we attended this evening, and made a cake to take to the memorial service for our neighbor tomorrow. I have to work tomorrow morning so trying to get it all done before that!

We had some beautiful weather here but it snowed last night and it's 19 F now with the hope of it getting to the 20s as the day goes on. I've no plans for today except to wash my hair. Tomorrow I'm taking my neighbor to lunch and Thursday I go to the accountant who does my taxes.

I'm reading another Elizabeth George book, A PLACE OF HIDING. I also discovered another Italian writer and am on the last book of a trilogy: CARTE BLANCH, THE DAMNED SEASON, and VIA DELLE OCHE. As with the other Italian mysteries I've been reading, these deal with the turmoil and/or aftermaths from the 1920s going up to the 1940s. I never realized how horrible and dire the political and economic situation has been in Italy during the first half of the 20th century. It sure gives me appreciation for all we have here.

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